This kind of thinking is what's leading us to a prison society without privacy or freedom, one little whiny step at a time.
The government should do as little as possible, and the least at the federal level.
https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/large-trucks-suvs-far-m...
What next, are speed limits also leading us to a prison society, because people don't have the freedom to drive at 100mph through the city? It's a shared public infrastructure that needs rules to keep people safe and alive. You could always build your own private roads if you want to be free of these oppressive regulations on the shared public highway.
If you want to live in a place where large vehicles are banned, you can always go build your own private roads...
The SUV was basically created by the govt when CAFE (Corp Average Fuel Efficiency) standards specified higher fuel efficiency for cars vs "light trucks" (27.5 vs 21mpg, IIRC). So, instead of promoting the previously ubiquitous station wagon as a family-hauler, automakers started promoting the SUV under the "Light Truck" category.
The appropriate response is to adjust the rules to account for the unintended consequences, not to simply say "whatever - we shouldn't do anything!". Tho, TBF, the article was also missing these key historical details.
[1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chicken-tax.asp#:~:text....
So maybe not a restriction, but at least let's end the subsidies. A tax by weight, which has been recommended by some in the past, seems entirely reasonable as well.
The US is constantly shooting itself in the foot with what I'd argue aren't too many regulations... but regulations prioritizing the wrong things.
All for it, but this will hurt EVs quite a lot.
I will note though, that the EV Hummer weighs nearly 10,000lbs. We're already seeing the same problem.
The cost of road related infrastructure (roads, highways, parking, tunnels, bridges, etc) and the land consumed by that infrastructure is considerable. I can see flat rate being something like the wear and tear you'd expect from a normal/popular vehicle, like say a honda accord or toyota camry. But if people buy something huge (that takes up more space) and is heavier they should pay more for it to support the increased cost of the wear and tear on the infrastructure. That can be substantial, I believe the wear and tear on a road scales with the 4th power of the weight.
The registration fee's should be much, much higher.
Tragedy of the commons is a real thing, it's not a pet peeve, you disingenuous dumbass
Look at where that got the biggest country on the planet.